A Dark Angel
by MeandPizzatheOTP
Summary: Love was never meant to be easy. It's even worse when it gets mixed up into the Hunger Games. Cato/OC
1. Chapter 1

**A Dark Angel**

_So, my first hunger games fanfiction, but probably not my last. This is going to be a long fanfiction, probably about 25 chapters at the least._

_It's going to be a Cato/OC, if Saskia doesn't kill him first:3_

_Please read and review, if you leave signed reviews i'll probably reply!_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Breathing in slowly, I got into position, crouching in the leaves, nothing for company but my prey and the whispers of the forest in the harsh wind.  
A sudden gust of air swept up my coal-coloured hair, whipping into my face and making me scowl, but I didn't allow it to interfere with my concentration. I was too focused. I was a hunter. A predator. And I wasn't going to let a silly thing like the breeze get in the way of me scoring my next kill.

I could see the fox in clear view. The beautiful creature padded through the undergrowth leisurely, unaware of the killer that stalked her, crimson fur ablaze against the light and dark green hues of the surrounding foliage.  
_That's it. Just a little bit closer ...  
_The fox moved agonizingly slow, treading elegantly but noisily through leaves and twigs. It glanced around, before lazily lying down, resting on the carpet of mud. My scowl turned upwards into a smirk.  
It was too comfortable.  
See, this was the thing. Animal or human, you should **never **get too comfortable, not even in your own skin, not for a second. You may think you are the top dog, but there is always the possibility that someone is lurking in the background, waiting to take your position.  
I was that someone.  
_Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly, steadily ..._

I could almost see the flecks of mud brown in it's amber eyes, I was so close. So bloody close. I held my breath.  
Then, the whoosh of the wind ceased.  
Then the distinct sound of a twig snapping beneath my feet. _Damn._

The form froze for a second, head lifting to assess the danger, debating whether the noise was worth scampering off. A second was all I needed.

I prepared my knife, and in one fluid motion, it was soaring out of my small, rough fingers and into the white underbelly of the creature, splattered in a lovely crimson.  
I sighed in frustration. Hunching over the mewling form, I glanced into it's pained amber eyes, the animal silently begging for me to end it's agony. I nestled it's neck into the crook of my arm, almost in a caring gesture - and then I tensed. I felt the crack as the creatures neck snapped. The light in it's amber eyes snuffed out within a matter of moments. I dropped the animal to the floor, before yanking the shiny metal blade out of it's belly. I began to skin it roughly. No use keeping it's pelt now.

I huffed. Not my cleanest kill - but it was something to put on the table for Terra tonight.

The corners of my mouth upturned into a small smile. Terra Gilbane, my closest friend and Ally. I never used to need to hunt - It was more of an obsession than anything else, to be honest, I reasoned with myself that it wasn't for nothing.  
With things like the hunger games still around in this world, and the fact that district 7 was not part of any special careers pack, this would be all the training I got.  
And boy, did I train. Everything I did was for the hunt, or for preparing the hunt, or for selling the hunt.  
Even then, all the money I made from the meat and the pelts would find it's way back to progressing my hunting skills, or my combat skills. Hey, everyone needed a hobby.  
It was something of a need. My sisters all had talents - flirting and socialising with the more privileged of district 7 being the main ones - and were favoured by my mother greatly. When I discovered how good I was at hunting, I put my whole self into it. But it was nothing compared to the need I felt now, with Terra to look out for.  
What a strange thing to do, hunt daily to put food on a table that wasn't your own, to feed the mouths of someone else's family. But I did, every day.  
It wasn't like my family needed it. District 7 was one of the poorer district, but my family were doing okay. Very well, actually. Not that I held much feelings for them. Some may say that blood runs thicker than water, but not in our district.  
The main water supply in District 7 had turned into a thick, muddy, gloopy consistency about 4 months ago. And President Snow had no intention of helping us any time soon; only families like mine had safe drinking water now.

Mentally, I went a separate way to my parents and 3 older sisters a long time ago. Father was the owner of a paper making factory, and Mother was a professional in charming her way to the top of the corporate and social ladder.  
And my sisters - they liked to flirt with men, hoping that one day one of the poor richer saps would ask for their hand, breaking a string of other hearts they deem unworthy in the process.  
I hate to admit it worked, though, especially with the bonus of our family gene pool.  
My siblings all had long blonde, pin straight hair, and blue eyes so perfectly lovely that it was difficult not to get lost in them. So perfectly lovely that boys lost their wallets staring into them.  
My wavy hair was the colour of midnight however, and my green orbs were said to reflect the colour of leaves in the summertime.  
I was most definitely the black sheep of the family. I preferred to be out hunting, waiting for the next kill. It's always been that way, but what really put me off them was their ability to look past the poverty on their doorstep.  
I used to be kind of be that way too, being connected to the village, but never quite understanding their pain - that was, until I met her.

* * *

I was 11 years old, and it was mid autumn. I had never taken on such a big kill before, but today that would change. Today was the day I'd conquer the giant boar I had encountered about a month ago.  
I had been preparing for this event for days, weeks perhaps, and I was so excited for this kill that I could literally feel the adrenaline pumping straight through my veins like blood. Through the bushes I peered into the small clearing, where this boar was snuffling about in the mud. I grinned.

This would be too easy. I could already feel the money that I'd make from this very worthy prize in the pocket of the light green army jacket I was wearing. I'd probably give what I made on this to the library owner, and in exchange, she'd get me more books about wild herbs and berries, and what was safe to eat and what was not.  
Maybe I'd even give some money to crazy Bennett, who sold weapons at the market on Tuesdays, if he would sell me a proper spear - unlike the ones I'd been making and showing him for a few years now - on a friends discount.  
I could see the whites of the creatures eyes now. I took a few seconds to admire the beast. After all, I had all the time in the world.  
I got ready to throw my axe.  
_3.  
_I breathed in elation, taking aim. I could feel the excitement, the nerves, the power all coursing through me. All the small victories; the squirrels, the rabbits, the badgers - they were all just training for this moment.  
_2.  
_ I put my arms back, putting all the force I could muster behind the throw.  
_1.  
_It was then that I was about to strike, when I heard a noise from the other side of the clearing.  
I lowered my axe, curious. Infuriatingly, the time I had lost gave the opponent I didn't even know I was up against an advantage.  
A knife flew through the air, clumsily embedding itself into the boars side. The beast whined and squealed in pain.  
Anger and confusion washed over me. Who was the novice who interfered with my kill?  
The boar was heavily injured, flailing about, writhing on the floor. I sighed with fury. Coming out of my hiding place, I strode over to the creature. It looked at me with orbs full of sadness. It knew it's fate, and wasn't going to fight any more.  
With a sickening crunch, I snapped it's neck as I tensed, my arms around it's airways, almost as I was holding it in some sort of embrace, when in reality it was a choke hold.  
And so I watched the life go out in its eyes. Annoyed, I managed to growl out "Well, you can come out now."  
Out of the foliage came a small girl, who was far too thin for it to be healthy. She looked at me tentatively, icy eyes submissive.  
I recognised her.  
Terra Gilbane, about a year older than me, though her malnourished appearance made it seem otherwise. She was short, had orbs the colour of melting snow, and lank but striking white-blonde hair. I remembered seeing her in school.  
Her family were load-pullers, the poorest of poor. My eyes softened, and she hung her head slightly, with shame or guilt I didn't know.

"I'm sorry. We- We're just so hungry and I thought -"

All the anger drained from me. How could I be angry with someone as kind and sweet-natured as Terra Gilbane?

"Take it." I sighed softly, stopping her mid-sentence. "I'd have just sold it on anyway." I looked at her, studying her reaction. Her face lit up in awe, before falling again.

"But, I screwed up .." She protested in a small, sad voice, and I sighed.

"We all have off days, Terra. Don't feel sorry for yourself." It was meant to come out as comforting, but my tone betrayed me. She winced, before looking surprised that I even knew her name. She shook off the thought.

"This was my first time trying.." The blue eyed girl confessed. "I know it's illegal but I need to look after my family."

I let out a short laugh. As if I cared about legal - I was out here doing exactly the same thing she was. "Well if it's your first time, I'm impressed." I noticed her relax some at the praise. "I've been working up to this kill for weeks."  
Her face crumbled in guilt. She may have been 12, but right then she looked about 8, her shoulders sunken, and her teary-eyed expression. I'd never encountered this type of behaviour before, and I didn't know how to react either.

We stood awkwardly for a few moments. I glanced over her again and decided eventually that there was no way she'd make it back to her house carrying that big lump of meat. Clearing my throat, I asked "Hey, do you know how to skin that thing?" She blinked. "Because it won't be much use to you if you can't skin or gut it." I noticed her shudder. _Clearly she hadn't thought about that. _  
Not waiting for a reply, I yanked her blade out of the boar, and got to work.

"What are you doing?" She asked me quizzically, kneeling down next to me. I looked up at her for a second, before focusing fully on my work.

"What does it look like?" I grunted irritably in retort. Though truth be told, I wasn't that irritated. I felt kind of ... tingly. Saskia Argave, _the protector of the vulnerable. _It had a nice ring to it.

Though after a few dozen times of hauling slabs of animal meat and skins to the Gilbane residence, I knew that the only vulnerable person i'd ever protect was her. The only sister I ever really needed. My oldest two sisters had no time for me, and Leigh - well, Leigh was just Mother in a smaller, younger form - repeating all her opinions in a matter-of-fact way like some kind of bloody parrot.  
I taught Terra more about hunting, gathering berries and such, and she taught me stuff as well. Like what it's like to have a best friend - a real best friend. Someone you'd die for. She'd always been naive and innocent, but she never judged me, and that's what I craved. I had enough judgement from my tyrant Mother.  
She'd always be singing a sweet melody - she sang it so often that I soon picked up on it. She told me that it wasn't our national anthem, but it was something more so special to us. The villagers would sing this song in the hardest of times, to keep their spirits up. And each time she sung it, I felt closer to the heart of district 7.

* * *

After I had skinned and took all the useful flesh off of the fox carcass, I made my way to the Gilbane residence. I chose a fox this time because the fox always bared the nicest meat. And in approximately 4 hours, was a celebration.  
Well, not a celebration as such.  
Today was the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games.

"Oh hello Saskia," Terra's father Than greeted me warmly as he answered the door. "Have you came to celebrate with us for the reaping?" Terra's father was a great man, with hair the colour of a raven's wing and the same icy eyes as his daughter. Like his daughter, I considered him family.

"Maybe later, but for now I'm just stopping by to deliver this meat." I flashed him a smile just as warm, and handed him over the slabs of fox flesh. His face lit up, and I sighed inwardly with contempt. This was one of the best feelings in the world.

"Ah I see, just been out hunting? I guess your family want to get you ready before the show." He said knowingly.

My parents always got me and Leigh, the only other Argrave child young enough to compete in the games, to dress up to the nines. _'You want to look your best if you get picked'_, Mother would say. I retched at the thought, not of being picked for that stupid game, but because of how mother viewed it. It screamed out _'You want to look great for your final hours in district 7, don't you?'  
_  
"Well I won't keep you. Please pop round later after the reaping, alright? Terra's been asking if you could come round again for some time." Than said kindly.

My grin widened at the idea. "Of course." I turned round to leave before saying "It's always a pleasure, Than." He nodded as I walked out of the door.

* * *

Home was unfortunately just that little bit less homely than Terra's house. I stepped into the considerably more expensive household, greeted with "Good Afternoon, loser." from my least favourite sibling. Leigh and me had always clashed, mainly since I started hanging round with kids from the village - whilst she thought she was too good for them, snubbing them whenever she could.

"Go give a blowjob to a knife, Leigh." I growled, not having time for her. I thought I saw something like pain flash through her eyes, but it couldn't have been. She'd regained her composition before I even had chance to question it.

"You know if you're attitude was as lovely as your face, boys might be interested in you." She snickered to herself at her double edged compliment. "You're outfit for the reaping is upstairs on your bed. Careful not to rip it, you don't look like you have the figure for it." She smiled spitefully.

I huffed. "Just fuck off Leigh, I don't want to hear it." I couldn't be bothered with her silly attempts to get my attention, Not today.

She frowned, her eyes softening. "Sas, what's wrong?"

I ground my teeth in frustration. "Don't you dare call me 'Sas'. Only my friends can call me Sas."  
I knew I was being unnecessarily spiteful - but this was how we always were. She was just like mother.

Her expression changed. I saw the same hurt I saw a few moments ago, but she hid it very well with anger. Soon she was walking upstairs, before yelling irritatedly "I hope you get picked!"down at me. I sighed slightly at her immaturity. There really was nothing else I could do. These people weren't my family, not since they turned up their noses at the Gilbanes - and the rest of our community, for that matter.

I went upstairs after a while too, looking at what Mother had bought me this year. It was a flimsy dark green summer dress with black lace trimmings. I smiled in approval.

Most people dressed up nowadays for the reaping, as if it was a special occasion, and not a game that used children as pawn to brutally murder each other. I knew the poorer families wouldn't dress up, as they had nothing to dress into - though I had gave Terra a pretty white dress to wear last year, which she was thrilled with - but they would still pretend they were enjoying the 'festivity'. Which I hoped was all it was to any of us. Just pretending for the sake of the capitol.  
We weren't like the career districts, who happily trained all their life for this. Whilst I trained, I didn't train for _this_. No one in district 7 wanted any part of this.

I threw the dress over my head, yanking it over my chest. It clung to the swell of my breast, and then fell to my mid-thigh. My parent's were never ones to preserve their daughters modesty. I knew this dress had most likely came from district 8. I wondered who'd had to suffer to make this.

"Oooh, Darling," I heard a shrill voice from the door of my bedroom; Mother. "That looks great on you - I was going to make Leigh wear it, but - Well, she doesn't have the figure for it." She laughed to herself - a false, tinkering laugh. Then she paused a second, clicking her tongue softly. "You've got 10 minutes before I'm finished doing Leigh's make up. I'll come in to do yours soon."

I nodded in reply, turning away from the mirror, Knowing I shouldn't ask the question, but doing so anyway. "Can I go to Terra's house after the reaping?"

Mother's smile faltered. "Saskia, why do you insist on hanging around with the lower class riff-raff? Why don't you meet up with my friends daughter Ametrine instead? She's lovely, just around your age, I think."  
She was wrong. I was Ametrine Belvidere's senior by 3 years. I had a small feeling she knew that, and braced myself for what she was about to say.  
She started again, suggestively. "I happen to know that she has an older brother called Jasper, who's very nice. He's just been dying to talk to you, you know."  
So she wanted to set me up with a Belvidere boy. Or, one of the 'gemstone' family, as I liked to call them, as they were all named after some sort of rock or another.

The Belvidere's were originally from district 2, but were high up enough that they could bribe the capitol to let them move to a lesser district. 'Lord know's why', my Mother would say, but I knew. They'd already bought half of the district now.  
What I wanted to know was how Mother associated with such a high class family. A lot of ass licking, I bet.

"I don't want to be with a Belvidere, Mother." I growled out, and I'm sure it took a toll on Mothers patience.

"Well," my Mothers voice was strained. "He has certainly had his eye on you. Why don't you just do it for mommy, okay?"

I breathed in sharply. "Do what?" I said slowly, testily.

"Just make friends with Ammolite or Ametrine or whatever the fuck her name is and get talking to Jasper Belvidere, yes?" She snapped sharply. I stayed quiet. She left the room in 2 long, swift strides, and the room suddenly seemed colder.  
I felt more alone than ever.  
I knew I was just a pawn to her, to get higher in the social ladder. Oh yes, I knew.  
However, no matter how high-class we were in District 7, that's all we'd ever be to the capitol. District 7 scum. I bet Mother thought she could charm her way up to the top of the other Districts, too.

I waited patiently in my room before she came back in, a bit more relaxed. "Right, my beautiful daughter, we are going to make you flawless."

I fought back a low growl. I hated the feel of her hands on me, the poisonous touch of her finger tips on my skin. But sickeningly, at the same time, I yearned for it. This was the only time of the year that I felt that I could somehow earn my mothers love.

The process seemed like years, when it only took about half an hour for Mother to deem me 'flawless'. She brushed through my long honey-coloured hair, humming an unrecognisable song. "Right, I think we're done here." She breathed out. She stood back for a second, drinking in my appearance.

"How do I look?" I asked wearily. A second passed in silence. Then two.

Finally, she grinned, looking at me as I looked at that wild boar in the clearing 5 years ago. "Like a prize."

* * *

Though I walked with them to the meadows, my mind was elsewhere. Mother squeezed my hand at all the right times, and I would repeat the actions back to her, but I was just going through the motions. I wondered who would be picked this year. Last year, Jemimah Eastcotte and Griffin Medcaf were reaped.

I knew Griffin Medcaf. The sweet boy with a stutter, that sold sculptures he whittled out wood at the market place. He had just turned 12, and he died in the bloodbath at the hands of a career. I remember that he bled out slowly, begging for his sister, Gwyneth Medcaf. I wondered who i'd beg for if I got chosen.

Jemimah, I didn't know very well. She was arrogant from what I remember, beautiful though - and she knew it. However, what I remembered the most was the colour draining from her face when her name was called out. I remember her freezing to death on the second night of the hunger games, whimpering about her boyfriend back in the district all the while. Emmett, was it? Emerson? Oh well. It didn't matter now.  
That was not a good year for district 7.

Mother ushered me to the registration table for the girls of district 7. I noticed Terra right at the front. She looked back, met my eye, and gave me a shy wave. I returned it with a reassuring smile.

As soon as I could get away from the table I rushed over to the Gilbanes, but was stopped in my tracks by Mother and Leigh. "No you don't, we're on camera, and i'm not letting you be in association with them on film. Go to your designated area." I gave her a feral snarl that made Mother grimace, and made Leigh raised her eyebrows. I could swear I heard her gulp.  
So I was hearded off with other girls my age, like cattle. I saw Terra in the group in front and made my way round the mob of young women, and slipped my hand into hers for a second, squeezing it reassuringly. She looked at my face and smiled, though her eyes were teary. It was like this every year.  
And then I let go - let her go to the other 17 year olds who were begging silently for their names not to be chosen, whilst I nestled into my line of the 16 year olds, who were thinking exactly the same thing.

I looked at my feet, tapping one impatiently, until I heard a chirpy voice from the stage. I hadn't even noticed that our escort, Vaille Monnaie had arrived, which was surprising as he really did stand out. He was good looking in every sense of the word, even with those bright clothes that made my eyes burn every year.  
This year he was clad in hot pink, with baby blue and dashing purple ruffles strategically placed. The florescent green make up he had on did not do him any favours. _The capitol women sure do have strange tastes.  
_  
He flipped his light blonde hair, and probably expected the ladies to swoon as they did in the capitol. When they didn't, he cleared his throat, and started to speak. "Why hello my lovelies, are you excited for the annual 74th Hunger games?"  
The crowd gave a low grumble in response. No one wanted their children to die.

There was a small cheer from the middle of the mob. The face came up on the big screen perched just above Vaille. It was Gwyneth Medcaf, grinning from ear to ear. "Let the odds be ever in your _fucking_ favour, Vaille." She yelled out. I sighed. She'd probably pay for that one way or another. Not that she cared any more.  
Her mental stability and calm demeanour had started slipping the moment her baby brother had been reaped for the hunger games last year, and completely shattered when he begged for her in his final moments. It was a shame really, because I had liked the girl.  
The only thing that stopped her from volunteering to follow in her brothers footsteps were her parents. Sometimes, through the thin walls of their house at night, if I was out hunting, I'd hear her screaming. Then two voices, trying to calm her down. **Smash**. The sound of a plate being hurled against the wall.  
Silently I couldn't help but think she'd make a good tribute. She may not win, but she'd take out a few careers trying.

Vaille let out a giggle. "Alrighty then, let's get started, shall we? hmm, I wonder which lovely lady will be picked this year."  
I remained calm. My name had only been entered the minimum amount of times. There was no way i'd be picked.

The meadows were thick with tension - I could almost taste the fear from everyone else. I was anxious, but not afraid. A small girl in the poorer part of the district soiled herself in the line in front of me. I grimaced.

Vaille made a meal of choosing a name, dipping his fingers into the glass ball daintily, before swirling them around. "Ooh, isn't this exciting folks?" He smiled happily. I almost retched.

It was a full minute before he even thought about choosing a name. I wondered if he knew the full extent of his power - He held everyone's lives in that delicate glass ball. Two families would be devastated tonight, at the least. Maybe there'd be a new Gwyneth Medcaf this year, losing their minds over the thought of their beautiful younger sibling getting executed in a few days time. I shook my head. I had no time for those thoughts.

And then, between finely manicured fingertips, he pulled out a name. Two words on a piece of paper. He called them out in a booming voice, as if announcing a winner of a beauty pageant.

"And the lovely lady tribute is .." The crowd was silent. No one moved a muscle, breathing hitched. It seemed the surrounding forests themselves went silent for the announcement. My toe was tapping even more impatiently, wanting this to just be over and done with. They were going to ruin lives today, did they have to draw out the pain for everyone?

I didn't expect to hear my name, and I was strangely calm, if not quite irritated.  
And of course, I didn't hear my name. "... A miss Terrabyth Gilbane!"  
At first, time stood still. It didn't hit me at first, but soon it all came rushing to me at once.  
My best friend, my lovely, innocent, naive best friend, the only person I could rely on truly. Her face was on the screen, and I saw her mouth open and then close like a fish, tears spilling over the rims of her snowy eyes.

"No, No, No, NO!" I heard someone cry, their voices rising with every repeat of the protest - but it wasn't coming from Terra. The words spilled out of my mouth like running water. Everyone's eyes were on me, in pity and sympathy.

Everyone in the village knew that we were joined at the hip, and that I was the girl who put the food on her families table. Everyone but the higher class knew how i'd pour buckets of water from our own special pump and deliver it at their door at 5am on the dot. They all knew that on that piece of paper, held my world.

Suddenly I was jostling through the crowd to her, all the while shouting the same variation of protest. Quick to react, the peace keepers were soon restraining me. "No, you can't have her!" I growled, thrashing.  
I was strong, and the peace keepers weren't expecting such a petite frame to hold such power. I thrashed against them, and flung the one off like a rag doll. I managed to wriggle out of the others grasp and make my way to her.  
I wrapped my arms around her protectively. I could feel her fear, vibrating out of her in laboured sobs. And in that moment, I knew I couldn't let her go through it.  
It had only been about 30 seconds since they called her name, when I did something life changing. I never thought i'd ever have to do this.

"I volunteer!" I screeched, and it sounded inhuman, broken. Terra stiffened underneath my body. "I volunteer." I repeated, calmer. My glistening eyes stopped threatening to spill. Now Terra was out of danger, I felt like a weight had been lifted.

Then it was her turn to screech. "What are you doing Saskia?" her voice was shrill and angry, and the tears were flowing faster than before. "Please don't do this - please, please ..." She stopped speaking. I'd already volunteered, and there was nothing she could do about it. She let out pained wails, and I held her close, stroking her hair.  
Not one person spoke in the crowd. Terra was well loved amongst the poorer community of district 7, as was I. The Gilbanes always spoke my praise to the village, and I was well known for being fierce, and full of spirit - but most of all, I was known for being able to overcome the social divide.

"It's going to be okay, right Terra? Everything's going to be okay." I comforted softly, before pulling her face back so she could see into my eyes. I didn't care about the whole of district 7 watching us, hell, I didn't even care about the whole of Panem watching us. I couldn't give a toss about Vaille fucking Monnaie, who was cooing at our interaction.  
"You were the one who finally gave my life a purpose, Terra." I smiled, my forehead bumping against hers. I could hear the words echoing slightly on the big screen. "I'd _die_ for you, don't you understand?" She wasn't even trying to contain her tears any more, and I could feel the salty liquid on my face. I breathed in shakily, and let go of her.

"Don't go Sas, Please don't go - don't - don't leave me .." She begged, and it came out so desperate, so pathetic, and it broke my heart. "Please, please ... No-o.." Terra's voice cracked as she whimpered now. There were a few milliseconds of silence where I gathered my thoughts.

"I'll come back for you Terra." I said, fire burning in my eyes. I kept in mind that the capitol was watching us, watching me, as I said, a little bit louder, "These games are mine." I could almost hear the capitol going wild at district 7s reaping.  
And then I turned away, leaving her to walk up to the stage.

She let out a high pitch wail after me, howling like an animal, her hand coming out to grab mine, to stop me from going up to the podium - but she missed my grasp by seconds, brushing my fingertips with her own. No one else dared to make a sound, as they parted to make way for me to go and claim my 'prize'. The world stood still.

Then, a voice into the silence, aside from my best friends soft but hysteric sobs.  
It was Mrs Ogilvie, the local librarian. I had often went to her book store for how-to guides to progress my hunting skills. She started to sing a soft tune. "Down by the woods under the trees, we dance and move just like the leaves ..."  
I recognised it.

_It wasn't our national anthem, but it was something more so special to us. The villagers would sing this song when they went through the hardest of times, to keep their spirits up.  
_  
I smiled softly as her husband, a stocky, ageing lumberjack, swiftly joined her in song. "I take your hand and you take mine, We're free like birds in this sunshine,"

The Gilbanes joined in soon after. "Stay with the breeze wherever you go, And you'll hear on the wind that I love you so,"

And soon the whole of district 7 was singing the sweet melody of our people. However, though the song was joyful, there was clearly no joy in the audience. As I walked solemnly up the steps and onto the stage, I noticed tears streaming down faces.

I put my fist to my heart and rose it up to my mouth, placing two fingers on my lips, a sign of gratitude widely known in our district, and I received a chorus of them returned. My heart swelled with an emotion like happiness. I gritted my teeth and grinned straight at the camera to the people of Panem. I didn't want to die, but I wasn't afraid any more.

Then Vaille spoke. "Well wasn't that precious?" He swooned. "My, we really do have a lovely lady tribute this year. What's you're name, darling?"

I gave him my best, most dazzling smile, already thinking about strategy, and replied whilst tucking a lone strand of honey blonde hair behind my ear coyly. "My name is Saskia Argrave."

If the capitol weren't cheering me before, they most definitely would be now. "Well Saskia, welcome to the games!"

"Thank you, I can't wait." I tried my best to look joyful, hoping the rest of Panem believed me.

Now the attention was off me, I could look into the audience. I saw Mother glaring my way, and I knew what this meant. I had betrayed her ultimately by exchanging my life for someone she deemed unworthy. I bet she was wishing I would never return from the games.I saw father, looking horrified. Leigh's reaction reminded me somewhat of Jemimah's reaction to being chosen. She looked like she was about to pass out.  
Then, it was my turn to be shocked once again. She threw up in front of the whole District - the whole of Panem. I could hear the sad sound of her retching, and a few people from the district turned round and watched her, sympathy in their eyes. It was then that it dawned upon me, why she must be feeling like this. _She told me that she hoped I'd get picked.  
_

She met my eye, her expression distraught. I tore my gaze from her before I felt worse, and turned it back to Vaille, who was about to announce the next tribute. "And the just as lovely gentleman tribute is .. " He paused, but it seemed for no where near as long as last time. "Lukan Moxely!"

My heart jittered for him. I knew Lukan - i'd babysitted for the Moxley's quite a lot, actually, with him having a younger brother and all. He was a year my junior. We were friendly enough - I always stood up for him at school if he got any crap, and he'd always tell his little friends off for flirting with me. Not that any of that mattered now.

I knew his family were poor, like most around here, so he probably had to apply for a tesserae a few times.  
Though he was young, he wasn't scrawny, and I'd seen him out hunting a few times. I remember I once spied on him, and saw him strike a small, messy kill - a rabbit, I believe. He took it home without skinning it, so I assume he hadn't had much experience. Not a major threat to me.

He didn't cry, and he didn't have anyone to volunteer for him. A low solemn clap rumbled from district 7, still raw from the drama of a few minutes before.  
He made his way to the stage looking apathetic. He stood to my side, and I looked at him and gave a tender smile. He nodded, but as his eyes met mine, I saw it. Fear.

"There we have it folks, district 7's tributes for the 74th Hunger games!" We shook hands and he squeezed a bit more forcefully than necessary, probably afraid to let go. "We'll be playing the replays of the reaping tonight if you want to check it out, which i'm sure you will! Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds ever be in your favour!" And with that we were ushered into the 'Hall Of Justice' behind us, with me feeling emptier than ever.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Dark Angel**

_Thank you to **Clovermaple**, **Regin**, **A shy critic**, and **Vampontheblock** for reviewing the last chapter! You all receive cookies!  
Reviews are such a nice way to encourage someone to write, so bear with me and review please? I'd also like to know where you want me to take this story:) Thank you all!  
_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

The farewells were the hardest. My mother never came to say goodbye, probably some weird form of revenge, considering I'd just somehow embarrassed her by volunteering for someone she deemed beneath me. It almost hurt that she didn't want to have some final words with her daughter, who was just about to go into battle. Almost.

In fact, none of my family had came by yet. Not that I expected them to. I was just waiting in this big, dull brown, hall-like room, sat on a wooden chair that looked a much higher quality than the ones in my house. Though, due to the situation, I just wasn't able to get comfortable.

I waited and waited for the Gilbanes to come say goodbye, but as each and every minute passed, I was beginning to get more ... sad. Wasn't anyone coming to say goodbye at all? I was friends with all the villagers, and it ad almost been an hour. I put my head in my hands, feeling strangely humiliated. Was I not worth anything to these people? Hell, I'd supplied them with meat for long enough.

I didn't even here the knock on the door, but I looked up when it creaked open. I was surprised to see Leigh, being ushered in by two peacekeepers, red rims lining her puffy, icy blue eyes that were shining with tears. We both took in each other for a moment. I drunk it up - The way her lip quivered, and how she was shaking like a leaf. I thought about asking her why she of all people even bothered to turn up. We stood uncomfortably for a while.  
"Are you ... Are you scared?" She eventually asked me in a small voice. I was about to give her some kind of insult, but thought better of it. Now wasn't the time to be petty.

I let out a short, humourless laugh, shaking my head. "No."

Then we were enveloped in more silence. She walked further into the unfamiliar room tentatively, before sitting next to me. "What are you thinking about?"

I stared up at her for a millisecond, still quite unnerved by her presence, before answering, " Just coming up with strategies." She knew what I was on about.

"What have you thought of so far?"

I blinked. This wasn't like Leigh, being so soft with me, and the Hunger Games shouldn't change anything between us, in my opinion. But, I spoke anyway. "Well, I'm thinking that I need to get sponsors. I need to appeal to the public." I said, looking at her warily. It felt so unnatural to be speaking with her like this.

"You won't have any trouble with that. You're smart, and fierce .. so beautiful ... " Her voice was hushed to just above a whisper. "The town feels so bleak now. Bleaker than usual. Everyone's so upset that you ..." She trailed off.

Instead of finishing the sentence, she clasped my hands in hers, and I felt something in my palm. I opened my hands to look at it, and gasped.  
It was beautiful. A white gold chain with a small, bronze, ball shaped locket. You could see through the delicate bronze patterns to the dazzling jewel inside. It was red, but it glowed, like a burning ember.

"Where did you ..." I breathed, unable to finish off my sentence.

"It's a red firefly opal." She looked at me. "I got it from Jasper, you know, Jasper Belvidere? He gave it to me in order to try and get him a date with you a while back - I've had it for ages now. If he sees you wearing it, he might sponsor you - and his family is as rich as they come."

I snorted. I was going to hear Jasper Belvidere's name everywhere I went, wasn't I? Even here, just as I was getting prepared to go to the station and ride a train to my death, I was hearing about that moronic, upper class twat. I was surprised he wasn't here, trying to be my shoulder to cry on.

The peace keepers came soon after, yanking Leigh away from me and out of the room. Tears slid down her cheeks as she muttered goodbyes to me for the last time.

* * *

I put my head down and sighed, trying to keep my breathing steady, panicking now. _She's not coming for me. _

So this was how it was going to end. I whimpered into my lap, on the verge of tears. It had been hours, and I'd almost lost hope of Terra coming to visit me when a family, my real family, or at least the one i'd always wanted, was ushered into the hall.

The first thing I saw was Terra's younger brother, Wiley. He was 7 years old, and had warm brown eyes that would make you melt, with soft, fluffy brown locks to match. He looked like he had been crying. When he noticed me, he ran in my direction and wrapped his arms around me tightly. "Noooo ..." He whimpered softly. I sighed in anguish, patting his head. We didn't say another word, no noises being made but his soft cries.

Someone cleared their throat in front of me. "Terra ..." I breathed out. I didn't see the rest of them any more, my gaze fixated on the person I'd been waiting for. Than and Terra's mother muttered apologies, promising Wiley tat he could see me after Terra. Wiley pouted and let go of me reluctantly, walking out wish his family in dismay.

"You thought I wasn't going to come," she breathed. I nodded, tears spilling over my eyes, before ambushing her into a hug. She pushed me away. "Why did you do it?" She asked, voice hard.

I looked at her, my own tone firm. "It was my only choice."

Terra glared at me, but her hands were shaking with fear. "No it wasn't. You could have moved on with your life. How could you do this to me? To yourself?"

My face crumpled and I felt like someone was ripping me inside out. "W-What?" I asked, my voice coming out horse. I couldn't believe this.

"You think killing yourself for me will make me happy?" She growled, getting closer to me, finger jabbing in my face.

My form was trembling. "But I couldn't let you -" I tried to reason, but she interrupted.

"Because I have nothing without you Saskia! When you die, I die!" Her voice cracked, but she didn't care, angry tears fell down her face. "Why didn't you let me go instead? I feel ... so god damn guilty ... I feel like I just fuck everything up!" She stomped around, and every angry move she made hurt me inside.

"Terra .. You know I couldn't let you go in there. You wouldn't last 5 minutes." I tried, but she wasn't being reasonable.

"You aren't my protector, Sas! You don't have to save me from these situations I get myself into!" I stopped her, pulling her into a hug that restrained her from those angry gestures.

"You don't understand. I'd die before I let you get hurt." I reminded her, and deep down inside, I knew she knew it.  
There had been too much crying today, but Terra soaked the front of my green dress with tears. She gasped and wept and choked, and I just stood there, hushing her.

After a while, I heard her voice whisper to me "I just wish I could protect you sometimes."

I laughed gently. "You have for the past 5 years. I'll protect you now."

Her sobs quietened to small hiccups after a while. I looked at the clock, and I knew our time was nearly up. "Sas?" She breathed.

"Mmm?" I replied tiredly.

"Promise me something?" She looked more alert, but nonetheless anguished.

I smiled at her. "Anything." I replied in a hushed tone.

She tucked a stray piece of white-blonde hair behind her ear. Then she looked straight into my eyes. Suddenly she had something authoritative about her. "Promise me you'll come back." She commanded labouredly.

We both knew I couldn't do that. "I will." I sighed out, too tired for this. I was going to be taken by the peace keepers soon.

"Promise me." She repeated desperately, with the eyes of an injured animal. I was reminded fleetingly of the fox I had caught this morning.

I didn't say anything, and her face crumbled in despair. I tried to think of something, anything I could say to make it better.  
"I promise i'll do anything I can to get out of their alive." I settled on. It wasn't enough, but she nodded.  
And I really would do_ anything_ to come out alive.

* * *

I was about to board the train to the capitol, Lukan close behind me. We hadn't spoken a word yet - not with the peace keepers all around us, making sure we wouldn't escape. I fought back a snarl when they first told us their intentions.

"I volunteered, didn't I?" I remember muttering lowly to the weasel-ish looking, middle-aged one in front of me that looked just a little bit to smug. I bared my teeth at him like an animal, wiping that slimy smile off of his face. Bloody moron.

Just before my foot left the platform, I heard a voice. I raised my eyebrows at the tall, slender form. Leigh.  
"Sas, Sas!" The blonde cried in a relieved manner, as she flung herself at me. "I thought .. I thought you'd already gone and -" She released a sigh of relief. Suddenly, she seemed less confident, as if coming here had been a bad idea.

The Gilbanes had left a while ago at the request of the peace keepers. Terra had been 'causing a scene', screaming at me, pleading with me not to go. I felt broken without her here. I was quite worried - didn't she know that the capitol would reprimand her if she kept acting like this?  
She gave me a token too, before they made her leave the premises. It was an old, simple bronze ring. She told me that her grandmother had given it to her, claiming it would keep her safe, before she died. I decided I'd put it on the chain my sister had gave me later, so I could still argue to the game makers that it was one token from home.

"I'd hate to break up this family fun fest," The smarmy peace keeper said matter-of-factly, "but we're on a rather busy schedule, and -"

I gave him the most feral snarl I could muster. "Stick your busy schedule up your ass, man. I'm about to ride a train to my death, let me have a few more moments with my bloody sister." Needless to say he backed down, although he did glare at me for a long while afterwards.

"Don't say that ..." My sister trailed off sadly, crossing her arms together, and rubbing one arm with her palm to comfort herself.

I blinked. "Say what?"

"That you're about to 'ride a train to your death' or whatever." Leigh said with a smile, putting air quotes around 'ride a train to your death' - but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "You'll come home to me - to Terra."

I grinned at how she included Terra's name, when she wouldn't have even uttered it previously, calling Terrabyth much less desirable nicknames than the one I had for her. "Of course I will. Just tell Jasper that if I come home, I promise to go on a date with him, yeah?" She grinned. "For the sponsors, of course."

She snorted. "I knew you'd never develop feelings for someone from 'the gemstone' family."

I went quiet for a minute, just looking at her. She smiled warmly at me. This was the closest i'd ever been to her. "To think, it's only taken the possibility for my gruesome, untimely death for us to realize we love each other." I joked, grinning, but my voice gave my sadness away.

She pulled me into a hug, enveloping her arms around me, like she was trying to shield me away from the world. "I've always loved you Sas."

We exchanged a heartfelt look before the smarmy peace keeper butted in. "Well if that doesn't melt the ice that covers my stone cold heart - wait, it doesn't. Hop in the train to your death, tribute. Your little friends already gone on without you."

Purposely ignoring the comments from that asshole - because I knew Leigh had bribed them all to let me have these few minutes with her - I turned completely to Leigh, and held back tears. This was probably the end for us. I kissed Leigh on the cheek, before stepping onto the train. As the glass doors closed, I stared after her as she waved. I could see the pain in her smile, and the wet, fat tears rolling down her face. As soon as the station was out of sight, I growled in frustration.

The train was cold looking. It looked to be made of steel, and everything looked too clinical. I saw Lukan sitting on the mauve sofa, fiddling with his token. It was a dog tag, nowhere near as expensive as my token, but just as precious. His elbows rested on the table in front of him. There were various foods that I'd never seen before placed on it, but Lukan didn't seem too concerned about eating right now. I couldn't blame him, neither was I.

Plopping on the seat across from Lukan, I stared down at the necklace my sister had just given me. It was mesmerising, and I could swear I could almost see it flickering. I breathed out a sigh I didn't know I'd been holding in. Would they take it away from me because it glowed? I knew there was almost no chance of me being able to keep both the ring and the necklace, even though i'd already slipped the ring onto the white gold chain.

"That's pretty." Lukan's low voice cut through the tension.

I grunted in agreement, not really knowing what to say. Usually me and Lukan got on like a house on fire - but now, all I could think of was what I'd do if he attacked me. He was strong. Would I be able to kill him?

He sighed in annoyance. "Stop that." Lukan snapped, sounding irritated. I looked at him quizzically. "You're looking at me like you're assessing how big of a threat I am." He explained. Then he hesitated. "We .. We are friends, right, Saskia? I've always classed us as friends. I'm not wrong, am I?"

My eyes landed on his. They were the colour of chocolate - a rare treat in our district for most- and laced with worry. "You know we are, Luks." I gave him a reassuring smile, hoping the familiar nickname would relax him. I was right - all the tension in him lifted, at least for now.

There were a few moments silence before the doe-eyed boy started laughing. It was a quiet, humourless laugh that made my stomach ache - this wasn't like Lukan. "What's going to happen now, Sas?" He chuckled, and I realised now where it came from. Complete and utter hopelessness.

I've always looked out for Lukan. Dirty-minded, with a wicked sense of humour - and yet so sweet underneath. I've always been able to give him an answer - but right now, I couldn't. " I don't know," I answered honestly. His shoulders slung forward, and his eyebrows knitted together as he frowned. "I think we need to find a way to get sponsors." The answer was as good as I could give him. His frown deepened.

"And how are we going to do that?" He asked, looking thoughtful. I smiled a small smile. He returned the 'we'. I knew we'd have to talk about it later, but at least it gave me some hope for the games. My doubts about him had lifted, even if only for a short amount of time.

A throat cleared behind me, and I noticed that a man in his mid 20's had entered our carriage. He was quite good looking, in a rugged, dishevelled kind of way. He was huge, intimidatingly so - the only reason I didn't feel threatened by his presence was because of his lopsided grin, and big, childlike brown eyes. He looked like an older version of Terra's brother, Wiley. I decided I was going to like him.

The glaring brunette standing by his side, however, was a different story. I recognised her to be Johanna Mason - she won the hunger games a few years ago. Quite sneaky, the way she did it - she pretended to be a weakling at first, so no one really paid much attention to her, figuring she'd be an easy kill later on - but really, she was a sadistic killer, that brutally mutilated the rest of the tributes when the time was right. She was a true example of how you could win this game with mind games.

She had short, cropped hair, and she had even more of a presence right now than the burly man, who took up most of the carriage with sheer size. Her fierce, chocolatey orbs, that looked upon me with instant dislike. So I'd volunteered to be taken from my old life, to die at the hands of some other kid, and this was my welcome?

My eyes locked on hers, and I stood, challenging her to back down. The few moments that passed between us were intense, and probably uncomfortable for the two onlookers. Finally I snorted, and looked away. She grinned smugly.

Lukan coughed. "You must be our mentors, right?"

Johanna smirked sarcastically. "Looks like we've got a smart one this year Blight. Someone warn the Careers." I grit my teeth to stop myself saying something brash as Lukan hung his head slightly.

The burly man, who I now knew was Blight, threw a quick "Shut up Johanna." over his shoulder to her, before chuckling. "That's right, buddy. I'm Blight, and this, uh, lovely lady is Johanna." He grinned at the woman, who gave him a death glare in return. "You must be Saskia Agrave And Lukas Moxely."

Lukan looked uncomfortable, and I could tell he'd lost some of what remained of his confidence, and I could tell what was going through his mind. Was he really that forgettable? "It's Lukan, sir." He muttered, shifting in his seat.

"Ah, right." Blight grinned, obviously not getting Lukan's change in mood. "We're here to guide you through the games. One of us shall be assigned to each of you, as like a personal games coach."

We both nodded, taking it in slowly. I wasn't sure that I wanted either of them to coach me; one seemed like he'd won on a fluke - he didn't seem to be the smartest cow in the barn, and I couldn't imagine someone like him ever hurting a fly, despite his size - and the other ... Well, I'm pretty sure Johanna Mason was the type to sabotage a 16 year old girls chance of surviving this game just because she didn't like me. This situation was starting to scare me - as if it had only really hit me now that I really was going to be murdered if I didn't keep my wits about me at all times. All I could think of was Terra, bawling her eyes out, seeing my death on a big screen.

"I'll take the boy." Johanna said firmly, but she was looking straight at me. "He looks more likely to win out of the two of them."

I was almost angry. No. I was angry. Furious even. She hadn't gave me a chance. Lukan saw the look that went across my face and shrunk in his seat. "And why do you think he's more likely to survive than me?" I tried to keep my voice calm, but I was failing.

Johanna scoffed. "A pretty, weak little thing like you - You think you can win this? Well, you are sorely mistaken. Just hope you die in the bloodbath, before things get really bad."

A feral snarl came from my throat. "You don't know a thing about me, Mason. _Not. A. Fucking. Thing._"

Blight raised his eyebrows sharply, and Lukan seemed to look guiltier than ever. Johanna's lips upturned into a grin.  
Then I realised. _She's assessing me.  
_Maybe she was smarter than actually picking a tribute to mentor without even checking out their skills, or even their reaping footage.

"Oh I don't? Well then, what are your skills, princess?" She smirked. "Oh, and shopping doesn't count."

The laugh I let out was emotionless. "In the games, you don't reveal your skills to people you don't trust - and I don't trust you. Why don't we have a look at the reaping footage first?" I didn't bother to conceal the edge in my voice. I could feel Lukans gaze on me.

The smirk on Johanna's face only intensified further. "Wise move - wouldn't want me to reveal anything to your district partner, would we?"  
I glanced at him and caught his gaze - his mouth was a tight line, and I could see the restrained hurt in his eyes.

Completely dismissing the tension, Blight smiled chirpily. "Right - let's do that then! The reaping footage is on at 8pm, and it's about half 6 now. Hey, does anyone want anything to eat or something? 'cause I'm starving."  
Lukan said something about a sandwich, and I just grunted.

With that, they left the carriage, and an uncomfortable silence ensued.  
I felt Lukan's eyes boring into my face. "What, Luks?" I asked, irritated, but my voice had softened since Johanna had left.

I drunk in his appearance. It had been a day since we were reaped, and he already looked more like a man. Worry can do that to people, I guess.  
His eyes were teary. "Do you really not want me knowing what you can do? I thought we were friends. You just said a few minutes ago that we were friends!"

I didn't know what to say. "It was just to show Johanna that I knew what I was doing. I'm not going to slip up in the arena, and I want her to know that." He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but he looked like he thought better of it. I sighed. "Spit it out, Luks."

He looked dead into my eyes. "I don't care that we're supposed to be competing against each other. I wouldn't lay a finger on you. Not even in the hunger games." I blinked. Then he added "I .. I just wasn't sure that you knew that."

I smiled at him - the first, genuine smile since I'd got on this bloody train a few hours ago. This was an alliance on his part, no matter how fragile. I couldn't tell him the same thing though - so I did the next best thing.  
I went over to Lukan and close to him, almost too close, my head on his shoulder. I felt his arm go around me, his body relaxing. I needed the physical contact right now, and I'm sure he did too. In that moment, it felt everything was going to be okay.

* * *

_1 Review = 1 hypothetical cookie:) hope you enjoyed the first chapter, i'll be updating soon:3_

**_~NekoKittysmileyface_**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Dark Angel**

_In this chapter Saskia get's to know her mentor, Johanna, and starts to notice Lukan acting a bit strange. Along with this, she also thinks a bit more about strategy._

* * *

Next thing I knew, I was waking up. My vision was groggy, but I still managed to swat away the hand that was poking me. "The next time you try to wake me up, i'll rip your hand off Leigh ..." I mumbled. I felt my pillow rumbling underneath me. "Stop laughing at me, pillow." I growled, cuddling into it deeper.

"Is that my new pet name?" A male voice laughed.  
Hang on. Pillows didn't speak.

I looked up to see Lukan's face grinning at me. I shot up, glaring at him, feeling quite embarrassed. "Uh, I'm sorry." I managed to mutter, shuffling away from him a bit. I saw his expression falter, but I didn't question it.

"It's okay." He said, not looking me in the eye. He got a hold of himself soon after. "The reaping are on. You want to go watch them with the mentors, don't you?"

I relaxed. "Yeah, I want to see how foolish I looked to the rest of Panem."

Lukan chuckled as he stood up. "You know, you were so brave. You volunteered for someone who wasn't even family - no one even thought of doing that for me." His smile was sad. He had a lot of friends, but it's hard to find someone willing to die for you.

"Lukan ..." I started, my hand on his shoulder in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. "Terra was the only family I had. Her and the Gilbanes ... I know she wouldn't have lasted 5 seconds in the arena. I know I have more chance at surviving than she ever would. No one volunteered for you because you have a chance." I watched his face light up, and I continued. "You're strong, you're a Lumber jackers son, so you know how to use an axe - and you're smart. The careers may have strength, but they are no where near as smart as us. That's why they go round in packs - there is strength in numbers, you know? There is no way they'd be able to do it on their own."

Lukan's mood seemed to have improved a bit, as he held out his hand to pull me up. "Thanks, Sas. I'm so glad it's you here with me - well - not exactly - but you know what I mean." He fumbled with his words as he ran a hand through his wavy brown hair.

I grinned at him. "Pfft - Nice save. Let's go watch the Reapings then." He let out a sound of agreement as I dragged him into the next carriage.

In there sat Johanna and Blight on a sofa, as far as they could away from each other. Lukan sat on the floor in front of the TV. He patted the space next to him, gesturing for me to sit there. We both looked at the screens with interest.

First up there was district 1. The girl called up was named Glimmer, and Johanna scoffed at her appearance. She was dressed as if she was about to go out on the pull, a short burgundy dress clung to her every curve and flirty red lips to match. Her golden hair came down to her chest, and she grinned at the camera as if she'd been picked for a VIP club. Glimmer's eyes were bright, and I could tell that she wasn't acting.  
I couldn't help but let out a dark laugh."See Mason, she's the one that looks like she thinks her shopping talents will win her the games." I glanced up at Johanna to see her smirking. Maybe if she wasn't such a bitch, we could get on.

Next was the boy to represent district 1 in the games. He was tall and lean, with happy green eyes. He didn't look much like a career - he looked too ... nice. I voiced my opinion to my district partner, who replied in a low tone "Looks can be deceiving, Sas." And he was right - the young man let out a cheer after he shook hands with Glimmer. He was going to enjoy every last bit of this.  
After their reapings, the commentator didn't say much about him. He focused more on Glimmer, gushing about her 'dazzling beauty'.

District 2 was up next, and my eyes darkened. Screw district 1, these two were the real competition, which the commentator voiced after their reapings.

Clove, the female tribute, intimidated me - if only slightly. Although she didn't volunteer, her face lit up when she was picked, as if Christmas had came early. She strode with purpose up to the stage, and the looks she gave the camera's were intense. I saw Lukan wince in the corner of my eye. I knew he was afraid.

If Clove was enough to scare my district partner, the next tribute would have him shitting kittens. The name of the original tribute that was supposed to go into the games had barely left district 2's escorts mouth, before a monster of a boy lunged forward. "I volunteer!" He grinned arrogantly, and I saw the original tribute relax.  
The new tributes name was Cato, and he was beautiful and deadly, like a snow leopard. His blonde hair was spiked up, and his piercing blue eyes stared down the camera, and it felt as if he was looking into my soul. I could see no pity in his eyes. He was a killing machine, a monster. I almost doubted myself - how could a girl with a bit of experience with hunting defeat a mountain of a man like that?  
Lukan slipped his hand into mine and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He must have seen the look on my face.

All my doubts slipped when it came to my own reaping. Mine was much longer than the rest so far. It started with Terra's name being called out of the bowl, instead of the usual build up - either trying to make it shorter, or more dramatic, I didn't know - and then suddenly a loud voice boomed in protest. I saw myself growling, teeth bared as I shook off a peace keeper as if he weighed nothing, and then I saw myself managing to free myself from the other ones grasp. "I wont let you have her!"  
My eyes were almost deranged as I fought to get to Tara's side in the crowd. Everything seemed just as dramatic on screen as it did in the moment. I was covering Terra with my body, snarling.

I made a point of staring at Johanna, as she tried to cover the shock on her face. I snickered, before turning back to the screen.

I saw myself screech the words that got me where I was now. "I volunteer!" I looked like an animal. After the words came from my mouth, we saw my body relax slightly. "I volunteer."  
Then there was our dramatic confrontation. They were up close on our intimate exchange of words, up close on my face, as if trying to see if I had cried once during it. I didn't.  
It felt so wrong, having this moment shared on a screen, but I knew it was worth it. "I'll come back for you Terra." Then a pause, a small grin gracing my lips. I looked fierce. "These games are mine." I was aiming the words at Terra, but these words went out to the whole of Panem. It was a warning for everyone.

I was surprised they allowed the song that our district sang to be played. It was almost rebellious - I guess they knew it'd make great drama. I was guessing that if another district had made any other sign of rebellion like this, they wouldn't let it be shown, not after district 7's aswell. Good.  
Lukan's hand squeezed mine even harder when we saw his reaping. It was uneventful compared to mine, but he managed to muster up a stoic look, which was more than could be said for the other sponsors.

The rest of the reapings seemed shorter than the first 7 districts. "District 7's reaping went on for twice as long as the districts before it." Blight explained knowingly. "The show goes on for and hour and 30 minutes, and the reapings last for about an hour. They're only showing the highlights of the lesser districts to keep things on schedule."

I beamed. Less screen time for them meant less sponsors for them - which meant more sponsors for me and Lukan.

We barely saw any of district 8 and 9, apart from the tributes being names and them then shaking hands. We saw a bit more of the cripple from 10, but not much.  
They gave district 11 just a tiny bit less screen time than the districts before us - a small girl who looked just old enough to enter the games, and a boy that looked more like a beast. I wondered if he'd join the careers. The girl looked so helpless, she reminded me of Terra - only with no one to volunteer for her. I knew I wouldn't be able to kill her.

District 12 got a fair amount of screen time for their reaping - They showed a girl with a braid volunteering, her face distraught, all though they never showed us why she volunteered. Then a blonde boy, Peeta I think his name was. They both shook hands, and you could see the blonde boy shaking. I hoped someone else would kill him, because although I could do it, I really didn't want it to come down to that.

I didn't want to hear what the commentators had to say, so I decided to go to my cabin.  
Not bothering, to look around, I made my way to the bed and jumped on it. It was so much comfier than I was used to, and I sighed with content. I wasn't afraid by any means now - death wasn't something that had ever frightened me. What really made me want to fight for this was getting back home to Terra, and trying to build up a relationship with my sister, Leigh. I wanted to get back to my homely community - to Mrs Olgivie, crazy Bennett, and to Terras little brother Wiley. And with all that motivation, I thought I really had a chance at winning.

A hard, insistent knock rapped on the door. "Hey, Tribute!" The voice of my brazen mentor sounded.

I huffed. I wasn't in the mood for her. "What do you want, Mason?"

She was so quiet for a few moments, I thought she had left. "You. I'm your personal mentor now."

Before I could respond, I heard her soft footsteps leaving my door.  
First, I smiled. Then I was laughing. Her opinion about me from before was wrong, and she knew it.  
That night I slept sounder than I had the night before.

* * *

It was 5am when I got up. I usually woke at 4:30, surviving on the least amount of sleep possible, before going out to hunt. It was easier to avoid my family this way.  
But today, I didn't have anyone to avoid. I sighed in a sick sort of relief. I was finally free from my family; free from my mother.

I mulled around my room for a little bit, freshening up, before I decided to explore the drawers. There were all sorts of pretty dresses in there - though they looked kind of uncomfortable, top half of most of them a heavy corset. Eventually I shrugged. They were better than the clothes that i'd slept in. I slipped on one of the navy blue ones, and looked in the mirror. It was certainly nicer than anything mother gave me.

At around about 6, I decided to go wake up Lukan. The train was stopping at 7:30, where we would meet our stylists, who were going to dress us for getting off the train to see some of our 'fans' near the training centre. The process would take a few hours, apparently. I sighed at the thought.

I tapped his door softly. He groaned on the other side of the door, making me laugh. "It's just me Luks."

He didn't say anything, so I just went in. He was sat on the edge of the bed, in his boxers. I raised my eyebrows at his body as I smirked. "Decided not to put on clothes today, huh Luks?"

Lukan looked at me and offered me a small grin. "Decided to dress like a prostitute today, Sas?" When I let out a chuckle, he continued. "How much is it going to cost me to get you out of that corset?"

I gave him an unladylike snort. "You couldn't handle any of this." I gestured to my body, and he laughed.

"I'm more than sure I could handle a little thing like you." He burst into more laughter at my scowl.

"You're like 6 ft - everyone's a 'little thing' to you." I retorted. It was almost true - he was probably 5 ft 10 at the least, whereas I was 5 ft 4. We settled into a comfortable silence for a minute. "Put something on - the train stops in about an hour."

Lukan smirked. "What, you finished staring at my chest yet?"

He was cocky, but if you'd seen his body, you'd have known it was acceptable. His lightly tanned, toned body was almost remarkable for district 7, especially considering his age; broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist which led to powerful thighs, now only covered by the flimsy fabric of his boxer shorts. I'd seen him like this quite a few times, but not since last year, when his growth spurt still had yet to hit. "Or would you prefer to stay like this and have me stare at you all day? Because that can be arranged." I teased. It felt like home - for the first time, we weren't two tributes about to fight for our lives. We were just two friends joking around.  
The goofy grin on Lukan's face was contagious. "Is that an option? Can we just do that?"  
Shaking my head at him, I reprimanded "No, now get ready you pervy bastard. If you need me, I'll be eating breakfast."

* * *

I stared at my plate in awe, revelling in the sweet paste of whatever the heck was in my mouth.

"Those are pancakes with syrup - oh, and the stuff all over your face is ice cream." Johanna said sarcastically as I rammed more of the cold heaven into my mouth. "I think it's time to talk strategy, don't you?"

I scoffed. "I think it's time to shut up until I've finished with the stuff all over my face." She crinkled her nose in distaste - maybe my witty retort would have had more impact if I wasn't talking with my mouth full.

After I finished, she was quick to strike up another conversation. "So, strategy." I nodded curtly at her. No one would believe you if you tried out the same strategy I had, and none of them will forget about you, due to the excessive amount of screen time you had, and what you did with it." She grinned. "That move you pulled, telling everyone that the games were yours, might have been the stupidest thing you could have done."

I scowled. "It got Panems attention,didn't it? I'll have lots more sponsors now than I would have done."

Her grin was now almost too wide for her face, happy to put me right. "Ah, but you also have the careers attention now as well, something you didn't want. In fact, you have all of the tributes attention now, and they'll take every chance they can to kill you."

I gave her a condescending look. "Don't you think it'd be in their best interest to offer me an alliance?"

She saw the glint in my eye. "You know as well as me that it's not in your best interest to make an alliance with any of the careers. They turn on each other soon enough."

"Yes," I retorted, "but I want to mess with their heads. You know, keep them intrigued, so for now i'll be neutral with them. Seeing as I'm already good with all the weaponry, I'll spend my days at the training centre at the survival stations - I'll 'make friends' with everyone at the survival stations, whilst all the threats are off at the weapon stations - then I wont have to worry about the lesser threats taking me off guard in the games, as they'll want me as an ally - the sweet, strong, misunderstood little girl from district 7."

Johanna raised her eyebrows. "You never told me you were good with weapons. What can you do?"

"I'm great with axes and knifes, seeing as i've been hunting since I was about 8. I'm quite decent with spears - better at making them than throwing them. I've tried to become a hand at most weapons. I'm alright with a bow and arrow, good power but my aim is slightly off - good enough to hit them, but most the time I wont land a fatal shot. I've never had access to a sword, so if I do go to the weapons stations that's what i'll need to pick up. Oh, I'm good at climbing, because I'm small, and I'm strong."

Johanna looked impressed - well, as impressed as Johanna's face could get. "I know your strong - that peacekeeper you threw probably knows that more than anyone right now... Anyway, back to your tactics - what would you do if you got cornered by the careers?"

I thought about it. None of them would think twice about killing me, because they didn't have a conscience. "Well they usually go for the close distance weapons, so it's in my advantage that I can work both short and long distance with an axe and a knife. You can't beg for your life, or ask them to make it quick - The tributes who request that normally die the most gruesome deaths. With the female careers, I guess you'd have to act calm, maintain your façade that it's all just a walk in the park, and then casually slip in their praise. Stroke their ego's. Maybe then it'd buy their comfortableness with the situation, and buy enough time to escape. If there's more than one, there's no use trying to injure one. Just get out of there."

The brazen brunette gave me a nod, as if this was a good idea. "And what about the male tributes? What do you have in mind for them?"

I almost laughed. "They are arrogant, too arrogant. They think they are gods gift to Panem, and they must be told so a lot. If they are both together, still maintain that you aren't afraid, and that this is all just too easy. Also, there is the fact that they must be competitive with eachother - Two arrogant males, each thinking they are better than the other .. What I think would work, is acting as if you were heavily attracted to one of them, and pay no attention to the other."

Johanna raised her eyebrows. "And why would that work?"

I explained. "The one won't want to kill a girl that's basically proving that he's so much better than the other, because he'll see it as if he's winning against his male competition. The other will want to change your mind - he sees you as no competition, might as well keep you alive long enough to show his 'friend' who's the real winner. Then all you need to do is find a way to escape."

I was happy enough that I'd shown Johanna how smart I good be. She had to ruin it by saying "You aren't as dumb as I thought you were."

Rolling my eyes, I muttered "Thank you, your highness."

She ignored me. "Anyway, now we need an angle. I think I've got something." She raked a hand through her hair, staring at me for a minute. " You aren't what I thought you were. Still don't like you, but you definitely aren't what I thought you were." I chuckled at the insult. "You appeared so innocent and naive when you came here, but you aren't, are you?" I gave her a simpering look. "You are really quite dark on the inside, aren't you?"

"Ah," I retorted, "If I told you, it'd take away all the mystery away, wouldn't it?" I couldn't help but chuckle at the look of annoyance on her face. "Do you know much about the legend of Lillith?" She certainly looked like she knew, but I continued. "A legend from district 7. A tale about about an angel at the side of a spring, deep in the forest. She'd lure young men away with her innocence and purity, deeper and deeper into the woods. But she wasn't an angel, was she? She was a demon. She deceived them for long enough, until they couldn't get away even if they wanted to - and then she'd kill them." A mutual grin spread on our faces. "Just think about it, because I don't want to be a tree this year."

She stood up, nodded at me, muttering something about going to make a phone call to the stylists about fabrics. I looked up at the clock, to see it was only about half an hour until we met the stylists.

Then a pair of hands were over my eyes. I let out a squeak, until I heard a familiar laugh. "God Sas, you need to work on your reaction skills."

I let myself smile genuinely. "So would you prefer me punching you in the face, babe? Because I can do that."

He didn't bat an eyelid at the pet name. "Hmm, come to think of it, I'm glad that you let out a little girly squeak instead. It wont get you far in the arena, but I'm sure Cato will find it cute when he stabs you."

Despite the talk of my death, I laughed. "That's charming, Luks. You know just how to make a girl fall at your feet - what with those compliments, and all."

He grinned, before changing the subject. "So, have you spoke to Johanna about game strategy then?" He said it so casually. I didn't know what to say - no matter what he said bout not hurting me, he'd always be an enemy sooner or later. Had he heard me and Johanna talking? Was he just testing me? I knew I was being paranoid, but being paranoid never hurt in a death match.

I decided to tell him a half truth. "She thinks I'm some kind of secret psychopath. I told her about that legend, you know, about the angel and the spring? I just really don't want to be a tree this year, to be honest. I know that's what our stylists usually go for."

He laughed. "Yeah, Blight says he doesn't think we should be trees this year, either. Apparently they really think we might have a chance. Hey, if we're going off that legend, does that mean I've got to be like Lillith's servant or something?"

Giving him a playful nudge, I said "More like a bodyguard. But like I said, if you can't handle this body yourself, how are you going to guard it?"

He emitted a mischievous growl from his chest, and it surprised me. I've never heard him growl before. I always growled, usually in anger. Whatever this was, it definitely wasn't anger. "Don't tempt me." I raised my eyebrows in shock. Was he flirting with me? I shrugged it off, and changed the subject quickly.

Shortly after, we stopped at a train station on the outskirts of the capitol to meet our stylists. A woman with bright blue skin, mismatched with hair the colour of candy floss, started to speak. "Hello Hello Hello! You two must be the lovely tributes from district 7. How are you? We're just going to get you dressed up a little bit before you meet your fans. When we get to the training centre, we'll really get started. Johanna phoned up about half an hour ago, so we're starting almost from scratch - but that's okay, because I hear you've got something really great planned."

And so I spent a gruelling few hours stood in my room as they practically made a dress on me. They said we should consider it 'practice' for the big thing later on. I almost bit the woman with the candy floss hair.  
Somewhere between the beginning and the end of this torture, they introduced themselves. The woman I had almost bit was named Meisha, the woman with the Green hair and red eyelashes was named Sienna, and the only sane one of the trio, a male with no oddities about him but silver lipstick on was named Malix. He was definitely my favourite. He told me that they were new stylists for district 7, as Johanna was tired of the tributes dressing up like paper, or trees.

Eventually, they decided I was ready. I looked into the mirror and beamed at my reflection. A white and silver summer dress with a sweetheart neckline. It was chiffon and flared, right until it cut off at my knees, with lilac, royal purple, and black pearls embellishing the sides, gathering at the bottom as the dress ombreyed down into a smokey grey colour.  
My eyes looked huge, the lilac and black eye shadow making my emerald eyes look piercing. my lips were a dark burgundy-purple. My hair was in soft curls, feathering my face lightly.  
They had got everything right, if not a bit too showy, and this wasn't even the show stopping outfit. I thanked my stylists, before leaving to find Johanna.

"Hey, Mason." I greeted when I found her. "What time is it?"

"Saskia," She returned, using my name for the first time. Clearly I had went up in her estimations. I grinned. She looked down at her watch, before replying "It's .. almost 12. We'll be arriving in a minute. Why?" As if on cue, the light cheers of the nation outside our train began to seep into my ears.

"Listen," I started, cautiously. "You won the hunger games, right? With your brilliance or cunning or whatever." She snorted. "If anyone could find out what the other tributes are doing tonight to stand out on the chariots, it's you."

She gave me a death glare. "You know that's against the rules, and i'd be punished severely if I got caught, don't you?"

I shrugged. "Alright, but no matter how good the story behind my costume is, we wont get many sponsors if we're upstaged. I'm thinking - if the districts that come behind us have a better gimmick, we could incorporate it into our costumes - so we'd have their gimmick, plus our legend.  
There would be a controversy, and people who were going to sponsor them will automatically think that they've just copied us somehow, and will give us their sponsor instead. Plus, no one wants to form an alliance with the tributes who copied their costume idea off someone else, do they? So if the district tributes wanted to form any sort of alliance, they would have no other options but me, the only one 'kind' enough to do so. Plus, we'd ensure that we were the most talked about district, wouldn't we?"

Johanna gaped at me. "That is so unnecessary and cruel." I huffed, thinking she was going to dismiss the idea. I waited for her to continue. "I love it. I can find out what all the other districts are doing for their costumes, and if there is a chance to do something like what you are suggesting, we will take it." She reassured me, and I felt oddly smug. Johanna was praising me for once. "Now go find Lukan, you're supposed to step off of this train in about 7 minutes."

I strode off, not sure if what i'd just done was immoral or not. I was just helping my self further progress through this competition, was I not? In the end, 23 of us would die. I just couldn't let it be me.

Lost in thought, I accidentally knocked into something hard. "Ow ..." I muttered, before I realised it was the chest of my district partner.

He chuckled, not looking the slightest bit concerned before he asked, "Are you okay?"

I stuck my tongue out at him, before drinking in his appearance. He was in a simple white shirt and denim black trousers; I'd never seen them before, they were tight to his skin, something that was uncommon in district 7. He had a smokey coloured waistcoat with the same black, lilac and royal purple crystals as I had embellished onto it. He had a golden tie on, and a pretty gold chain around his wrist to match. "Hey, you look good."

Lukan ran his eyes over my body in a way that made me uncomfortable. "You look so sexy, Sas." He said huskily. I glowered, not taking this very well. He'd been acting strange ever since we'd been reaped. I decided to cut him some slack - I'd been acting different, too. I was treating everyone as if they were my family - and I _hated_ my family.

I didn't respond to his last comment, and repeated the same thing as Johanna said. "We're supposed to be stepping off of this train in about 7 minutes. Well, i don't know how many minutes now, actually ..."

"Actually, no minutes." Blight beamed. "Get off the train and say hi to the people!" He ushered Lukan off first, and I heard screams of people erupt as soon as he left my view.

I only had a few seconds to regain my composure as I joined him.  
Suddenly the screams were deafening. There was a collage of colours in the crowd as the residents of the capitol bounced eagerly, screaming my name. Whereas Lukan just walked on, waving and smiling at the crowd, I made it my mission to make the most of this. I interacted with the crowd, grinning as they lapped it up. I spotted a small child with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes on the top of his fathers shoulders at the front, screaming my name with golden roses in his hand, and stopped to speak to him. "Hi sweetie, what's your name?"

The capitol roared as he spoke. "My names Satin!" I almost laughed. Trust the capitol residents to name a child after expensive fabric. "I brought you flowers!"

I shook off my thoughts about his name, and took them graciously, giving him a curtsey. Roses had became extinct in most districts apart from district 1, and the capitol, in which they genetically engineered them to be all sorts of colours - the most expensive being gold. This is partly why I went to speak to him - maybe he'd pester his father to sponsor me. I felt the cameras on me as I excepted them. "Aw thank you, Satin." I smiled warmly. "So," I started, knowing I needed to get this right. "What do you think of my dress?"

He smiled an innocent smile at me before answering, his blue eyes bright, "I think you look like an angel."

Bingo. This response was better than I could have imagined - It was so good, I almost thought that Blight had bribed them or something. I let out a giggle. "Satin, sweetie, can you keep a secret?" The boy nodded so frantically that I thought his head was going to fall off. The crowd hushed a bit, trying to hear what I was saying. It didn't matter, I figured, because the camera's would pick up what I said anyway. "Looks can be deceiving. Sometimes, just sometimes, it's the sweetest fruit that is the most poisonous." I waved at him, the flowers in one hand, and caught up with Lukan, who was just about to get into the sleek black limo to the train centre, in a few long strides.

The door shut, and I took in the appearance of Blight, Lukan, his stylists then my own, and Vaille, our districts escort. I noticed the absence of Johanna, before realising that she must have got a different ride, to spy on the other stylists at my request. I grinned. Everything was going to plan.


	4. Chapter 4

**A Dark Angel**

_So, my first hunger games fanfiction, but probably not my last. This is going to be a long fanfiction, probably about 25 chapters at the least._

_It's going to be a Cato/OC, if Saskia doesn't kill him first:3_

_Please read and review, if you leave signed reviews i'll probably reply!_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

I can't tell you exactly what happened in the Remake Centre, mainly because I don't quite know. I'd been carted off, away from Lukan, and ushered into a clinical white room. I saw glimpses of other tributes, but they were going to rooms that all looked similar to each other, yet slightly different to mine.

I recognised my stylists, and then I saw people in white lab coats. I knew something was slightly off. None of it added up - what was I having done to me that the other tributes weren't?  
I was about to voice my questions to Sienna, but then I felt cold, gloved hands clamping onto my shoulder. I wasn't going to ponder it for a moment - I thrashed and writhed, but something was already being injected into my skin. I put up a good fight - clawing the man who'd put the forsaken syringe into my skin, even managing to throw a few good punches in there, but it was no use. All I saw was Sienna's cheery face as I faded out.

From there forward, I lulled in between conscious and sleep, never getting proper glimpses of what was happening. One time I woke up long enough to see Johanna come into the room long enough to talk to my stylists.

Johanna looked angry. I only caught tiny bits of the conversation. "12 ... Fire ... Upstaged ... Do it!"

My stylists looked wary. "... Not enough time ... Already good enough!"

I could see Johanna's eyes turn deadly. "Make time!"

Then my stylists seemed to be talking about me, every now and then glancing at my semi conscious form. Johanna's orbs rested on me for a second, before nodding curtly back at the stylists. I faded back into a dreamless sleep soon after.

* * *

I woke up disorientated, scanning the room and noting all my stylists had gone bar one - before meeting Sienna's eyes. I gave her a piercing glare. "What ... What did you do to me?"

She giggled. "Oh, it's just wonderful. You see, when we came up with the idea of the legend of Lillith, we decided -"

I cut her off with a bellow. "What did you do? I asked you what you've done to me! Get to the point!" All the people in the white coats turned to stare at me, but I didn't care. I even gave a particularly gruesome scowl to the man that had put me under.

Sienna frowned a little. "Well, we decided to give you some cosmetic surgery - Johanna had found out that they were originally going to do that with some lower district, and - she told us to go ahead. I thought you'd be pleased." My eyes widened in shock. They'd given me cosmetic surgery without my consent? Were they even allowed to do that? "We didn't change any of your facial features, of course; just a chemical peel, laser treatment to get rid of all the unwanted hair follicles, breast and buttock augmentation, and of course an Otoplasty - your ears were not doing you justice, I'm afraid."

I clenched my jaw. "My ears were fine. I was fine. Why did you change me?" I had always been an athletic build, with reasonable sized breasts. I looked down and sighed in relief. They hadn't changed them too drastically. Well, about a cup size and a half, but at least I didn't have to carry them in wheelbarrows or something. _That wouldn't help me in the arena.  
_They looked natural, not like the ones I saw on most of the people - both women _and _men - in the Capitol._  
_

A voice that didn't come from Sienna answered for her. "Because the girl from District 1 and the girl from District 12 were having it done, and I'm not letting them upstage you." It was Johanna. "District 12 decided against it in the end, they are just going to use padding," I heard Sienna scoff, as if that was the bad decision here. "but District 1's coming in after us. If we're trying to cast you as an Angel and a Demon, you've got to be the embodiment of temptation. Your body was fine before, but now you will fit so much better with our angle."

She said it as if I was a child for not getting it, but I agreed with her. I couldn't hold onto any sense of morals or self preservation here. If it was going to help me get sponsors, then I should feel happy, right? "I understand, Mason. So what, have I got like plastic in my ass or what?"

She barked out a rough laugh. "No. We've injected growth serum into your mammary glands, and into the muscles of your butt." She laughed more as my nose crinkled in distaste, before saying sarcastically, "It's charming, I know."

Suddenly, I was very conscious of the fact that I was naked. I shuffled awkwardly for a few moments. "Can I get some clothes then? If you've done the rest of the whole preening me whilst I was unconscious, which I assume you have."

A big, white fluffy robe was thrown at me, and I caught it with ease, before slinging it on over my shoulders. My body felt odd, my chest felt heavy, but I shook away the thoughts. It could be so much worse. I could have so much more taken away from me, and if having big boobs got me more sponsors, no matter how silly that sounded, I didn't mind. I couldn't mind. These games could take so much more from me.

And later, I found out, they did.

* * *

It took hours. A gruelling, excruciating amount of time, as they made my dress on me as I stood. If I thought it took long to prepare what I was wearing on the train, I was sorely mistaken.

Johanna stayed with me, which she really didn't need to, explaining what was going to happen. "You were right about the possibility of us being upstaged - District 12 had a really good gimmick, which is surprising. Maybe they got new stylists this year, like we did. Either way, they aren't going to be able to go through with it - not now we know what they were going to do."

Johanna wasn't getting to the point - she seemed to be ranting more than anything, angry that their stylists were more creative than ours. "Get to the gimmick, Mason." I sighed, tapping my foot impatiently as Sienna struggled with my make up. They were using these different types special dust over my make up and my clothes this year, so when I gave the signal, which would be smashing the angelic crown that was going to be placed upon my head, they would press a button that made the different dusts take effect. The dusts would change the colour of anything it touched to the colour it was programmed to make. I didn't know what the effect would be on the crowd, but I would find out soon enough.

We were going for transformation. At first, I'd be Lillith the angel, and Lukan would be my accomplice. As soon as I smashed the crown to the ground, the transparent dusts would take and Lukan would go from Angels to Demons in a matter of minutes. What could possibly upstage us?

After a long sigh, she stared into my eyes. "They are setting their tributes on fire. Synthetically, of course." I gasped. That certainly would have stolen the show. Then, we slowly started grinning at each other.

I knew it was cruel, but I couldn't help but laugh. "So we're going to set me and Lukan on fire as soon as I throw the crown, making it look like we come from the deepest depths of hell!"

Johanna had a mischievous glint in her eye. "Not just you and Lukan - the whole chariot! You'll look like you _are _the deepest depth of hell, Saskia! It's so perfect, it'll completely ruin district 12's chance of getting any sponsors! Not like they ever get any, either way."

I was reeling with excitement. It was so genius. We'd be the talk of the capitol - the whole of Panem. I didn't care about how cruel this was - morals wouldn't get me back to Terra. However, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt when I thought about the scared boy who had been reaped this year. The blonde - I think his name was Peeta.  
I yelled at myself internally. I couldn't dwell on my conscience at a time like this. How could I? He might be the one to kill me, for god sake.

I tried to focus on something else - like the mirror in front of me. My stylists were almost done now, and I had to admit, they had done a great job. They left my hair down in soft black curls, whilst braiding small pieces and pinning them back with little amber coloured gems. They patted RRD5# powder onto each, so I knew they would change to a lovely ruby red colour when the time came.

My eyes were bright, rimmed with gold and royal purple eye shadow, and my lips were a light baby pink. I really did look angelic.  
When they were satisfied with the outcome of my make up, they covered my gold eye shadow and my lips with both RRD5# and CCD2#, leaving the parts of my lids that were covered in royal purple alone.

The dress really was something to behold. It was stunning, a pure, radiant white corset with golden ribbons to tie it up at the front. Silver and lilac diamonds were everywhere, making the dress gleam in almost every light, giving me the illusion that I was glowing. The skirt of the dress fell to the ground in an elegant fashion on the outside, but inside the dress I could feel where is was sectioned off into two different parts. The stylists told me that they were using a specific dust on the bottom of the dress that would disintegrate at the same time as the colours on my dress changed, giving it a singed, wilder look. Lukan had the same type of dust on the sleeves of his suit.

The white wings I had to wear were attached to the dress securely, and they were so extravagant and wonderful, they almost looked real. They were made of real feathers from a rare bird called a swan, that you can only find in the zoos of the capitol. The bottom of the wings were dipped in gold, and I knew that the capitol would go wild for them tonight. The body of the dress was patted down with RRD5#, whilst all the crystals and ribbons were patted down with CCD3#, which would make the dress a dark ruby red colour, and all it's embellishments a sparkly, coal colour black. The wings were covered with CCD1#, a matte colour of midnight, and then on the dipped gold bottom, it was saturated in the CCD3#, so it'd look like the night sky.

They gave me black stiletto's to wear in the end, seeing as no one would see my shoes until the bottom of my dress disintegrated. They were high enough for me to need a platform, but I didn't mind. I had struggled over the years at my mothers social gatherings, where I was forced to wear shoes just a little bit higher than these.

When they were finished, I strode confidently over to the mirror, before twirling for my stylists and Johanna. I don't know why she stayed here as long as she did, but I was thankful for it. I was beginning to slowly hate her a tiny bit less. Just a tiny bit.

The stylists gushed about how wonderful I looked, whilst Johanna simply grinned at me, an almost trademark of hers. I blew her a sarcastic kiss as I moved out of the room on the instruction of my stylists, knowing she'd follow close behind.

We were met outside the prep room by Lukan and Blight. They both looked at me with wide eyes, Lukans gaze on my chest a little longer than it should have been. We all went to the chariot launch bay together, and Blight suggested me and Lukan stay very close to each other. Lukan seemed to know why, but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to question it. The stuff they used to put me under for the surgery was very strong, and it still hadn't worn off completely.

Most of the tributes were in the launch bay, the only district we were waiting for was 12. Perfect. We managed to get the fire stunt ready before them, meaning it'll definitely look like they've copied us. Me and Lukan grinned at each other knowingly.

Johanna went off to talk to district 4's mentor, Finnick O'dair. The man was gorgeous, and as he locked his eyes onto me, he blew me a kiss, grinning. I felt my stomach do an involuntary flip as I blew him one back. I could see the girl from District 1, clad in silver spray paint, seething from the corner of my eye.

I ignored the stares from the rest of the tributes as my district partner pulled me close to him and whispered in my ear. "When you smash your crown, I'm going to do something - don't be surprised, just roll with it." His breath was hot in my ear and I shivered. He growled, before adding "Now giggle like I've just said something funny."

I let out the cutest giggle I could muster, stroking Lukan's arm. I could feel him grinning. He was afraid at the start of this, but now it was all gone. He'd changed like I had in the past few days. We were deadly now. We stood a chance.

I glanced around to notice that two of the careers were staring at me. Sparkles or Shimmer or whatever her moronic parents decided to name her from 1, was giving me daggers. I grinned. Me and Lukan were supposed to look innocent, but the interaction that had just passed between the two of us was anything but, and she knew it. I grinned even wider before winking at her. I could see the scowl she was giving me was causing lines in her foundation. Good.

The other career was the blonde from District 2. I hadn't bothered remembering his name, but I did remember that face. And those eyes that were violating every inch of my body. He smirked at me, before mouthing something. It took me seconds to realise what he said. _'mine.'_

I was still woozy from the anaesthetic they gave me in the surgery was still making me slightly woozy, and if he thought I was afraid of his little threat, he had another thing coming. I outright laughed, making his smirk falter. Shaking my head slowly, I mouthed to him the word _'No.' _I giggled at the sudden look on his face, and continued. _'**You** are mine.'_

Before I could see more of his reaction, I turned back to Lukan, and whispered in his ear, knowing the blonde was still looking at me. With this in mind I grazed the skin of Lukans neck with my lips, and whispered to him "District 2's boy just threatened me. Mouthed the word 'mine'. He looks angry that I laughed it off. He's still staring at me. I'm giving him a show."

He chuckled at my antics. "That's a dangerous game you know. You don't know what he'll do in the arena."

I joined in his laughs with my own put on giggle, not caring how many tributes or there mentors were observing us, including the riled up blondes from 1 and 2. "The blonde from 1 is my kill. So is the one from 2."

He smirked at me. "Bit ambitious, isn't it? The careers?" He pauses, looking over at them. "The girl looks stupid - she has creases all over her face. Lets hope she dies of embarrassment when she watches it over before she gets into the arena."

This made me genuinely laugh, and Lukan's eyes lit up at the sound. "It's from all the scowling she's done." He nodded in agreement, not being able to keep the smile off of his lips.

Then district 12 arrived. I tensed every so slightly, not enough for it to be visible but enough to feel it in my stomach. I felt a small prick of guilt as I saw the nervous boy next to the girl who'd volunteered. I caught his eye and flashed him a kind smile, and he returned it wholeheartedly, sighing with a little bit of relief.

Words rung out from loud speakers. "Tributes, to your chariots!" Lukan stepped on first, before holding his hand out to me. I took it and hopped on with all the amount of elegance I could. District 1 set off, and I heard the audience go wild. "Here is District 1!" The speakers called out. The cheers picked up for district 2, but quietened down to polite for district 3. I looked behind me, distracted, to see the boy from district 12 looking at me. He mouthed to me a very different message than the boy from district 2 did earlier. '_Good luck.'  
_I returned the same words to him, before I heard the words "District 7!" from the speakers above, and the chariot set off.

Immediately I was blinded by the colours of the citizens. Violent hues of every colour was what made up the audience, with flashes going off at every moment, presumably from cameras. Our family never owned a camera, but the Belvideres had, and I'd seen it a few times.

The crowd was roaring as I smiled sweetly at first, waving formally to everyone. Lukan took my hand as we had planned, him beaming at the crowd as well. Every smile, every wave spurred on the audience more and more.  
We were nearing the middle of our time before it happened. Lukan squeezed my hand, and on cue I looked into his eyes. The crowd were going ballistic. But what happened next really astounded them. I grinned right at one of the camera's to my right, and took off the crown on my head, before smashing it into the floor in front of us.

The crowd gasped as our attire changed in front of there eyes, and the chariot started to flicker slowly. I glanced at Lukan and was almost shocked. His sleaves had disintegrated like the stylists said they would, leaving his toned biceps on display to everyone. His suit was no longer white, but midnight black like my wings, and his once silver tie was ruby red, matching his sparkling ruby cuff links.

Now I had lost my sweetness, and I was beaming wickedly at the crowd, blowing them kisses, and winking directly at the men that looked richer. As I blew my 3rd or 4th kiss, I saw the flames engulfing my arms. The crowd was shrieking, going wilder than they had for any of the districts before us. I must have looked like a she-devil, with Lukan being my loving guardian.

Then his hand was around my waste, pulling me to him almost protectively. This must have been what he was talking about. I continued waving and blowing kisses to the crowd, and he remained the stoic protector. Then he leaned down and whispered into my ear. "Stroke my shoulders like you did in the launching bay." And that's what I did, before doing something a little better than that. I leaned into him and softly bit into the skin behind his ear, so the people behind us could see. Not a single person in the audience was not screaming as loud as they possibly could at this point.

Lukan threw his head back in pretend ecstasy, or what I hoped was pretend. I'd just transformed the image of him being my guardian into him being my brainwashed slave, being kept in line by my lustful dominance. I laughed as I turned back to the audience, continuing to make them go crazy. District 8, 9, 10 and 11 were in by now, but all we could here were mine and Lukan's named being cheered repeatedly.  
Our chariot had stopped with the others in the middle of the stadium when District 12 came out, and the crowd was still cheering out for our district. Peeta and the other girl looked uneasy, and I felt a twinge of sadness. Then the brunette girl started shaking her head, mouthing no back to the launching bay. If they were going to light themselves in fire before, they weren't now. I breathed a sigh of relief. At least now they were just another district with an unremembered costume, instead of being accused of being copycats.

Johanna must've pressed the button to reset the mechanical dust and put out the flames, as when President Snow started his speech, I looked at Lukan to find his suit was white again, the only sign that we had looked like demons a few minutes before was his sleeveless arms, and the singes from where the sleeves had disintegrated. I found it was the same for me as I looked down to the white dress that stayed at mid-thigh.  
I'd never liked President Snow. He was a rat, a psychopathic rat. None of us would be in this position if he hadn't put us here. I tuned him out and kept a smirk plastered on my face as the man continued his rambling. I glanced over at the rest of the tributes. The brunette from 12 was glaring at me, as if I was responsible for her embarrassment - which I was. I decided to play the sweet angel again as I smiled dumbly at her. I mouthed _'you look lovely' _to her, and confusion flashed through her eyes as she looked away.  
My eyes then locked with the most lovely blue ones. They belonged to the District 2 boy. He was looking at me with the same arrogant smirk as before, but there was definitely something new in those once icy eyes. Heat. His gaze was almost burning me, but I wasn't put off. In fact, I was almost irritated. What, so now he wanted to try and play with me or something?

I kept the fake grin on my face, but brought my hand up to my throat, tracing lightly from one side to the other - subtle enough for only him to know what I meant. He was definitely my kill. We stared at each other, each challenging the other to look away. I tore my eyes off of him when Lukan put his arm around my waste again. I looked up into Lukan's eyes and saw a flash of something, maybe anger, before it was replaced with his usual mischievous warmth. I sighed and leaned into him. So this was Blight's strategy - make us look like some kind of weird couple. He obviously hadn't talked it through with Johanna, because both of our plans put together were absolutely terrible, but I had to admit I felt more comfortable baring the brunt of the glaring tributes with him by my side.

Eventually President Snow had finished his shit about how we were so lucky to be contestants in the games. I had to bite down on my tongue roughly to stop myself correcting him - if we were really lucky, we'd all be living life in our districts with our families, not fighting each other to the death.

Finally, we were sent back to the launch bays, the crowds deafening screeches still ringing in my ears. Lukan made sure to hop off first, and offered me his hand. I took it and jumped down onto the ground as gracefully as I could in these heels. Unfortunately, no one was moving yet- the mentors seemed to want to talk to each other. I took this as my chance to 'make friends' like I told Johanna I was going to do at the survival stations.

I tried to unclasp my hands from Lukan's. "Where are you going?" He asked with a smile on his face , but I could feel the urgency in his tone. He didn't want to be alone here, because we could convince ourselves how deadly we were and we could look confident to everyone else, but I knew Lukan was just a scared boy in a place he didn't know.

I sighed, but gave him a kiss on the cheek to keep up pretence. " I'm going 'friend making', Lukan, since no one else is taking much advantage of this opportunity. Stay here, we'll look too intimidating if we go together, like some kind of angel devil couple or something."

I saw him grin at the word couple. "Alright, just stay away from the careers."

I gave him a nod, before doing something quite risky. I made my way straight over to District 12.

The tributes were standing away from their district team, so it was quite easy to access them. They looked shocked and weary as they realised I was going over to them. I shot them a sweet smile. "Hi, you two must be district 12, right?"

The golden haired boy smiled at me now, obviously not sensing any threat. The girl stayed cautious, however. The boy spoke. "Yes, we are. You're Saskia, from District 7? My names Peeta, and my district partner is Katniss." Katniss nodded.

"I already knew your names, how could I not? I loved your costumes, by the way. They were so simplistic but they symbolised something important to me, something that's already been lost on most of us here." I lied, watching as Katniss raised her eyebrows. I lowered my voice. "Your costumes showed that you had nothing to hide, that you weren't going to dress up for this sick game, and that you weren't going to change yourselves. I think most of us have changed already for these games." It made sense, and Katniss seemed to brighten up a bit.

Peeta beamed, before it turned into a sheepish smile. "The way you grinned at the crowd when you transformed ... You had me believing that you were evil." I saw Katniss elbow Peeta subtly, thinking I never saw it, obviously thinking it was a bad idea to give that away.

My smile turned sad. "I thought I looked evil too, but it's all part of the gimmick our mentors have forced upon us. A legend from my district." My already low voice was now just a mutter. "I hate these games. They make me feel sick. I felt less sick drinking the water from District 7, and it's practically just mud now. People are dying because of the dirty water, and President Snow cares more about these stupid games." I didn't let them know that I never drunk the water, and that not that many people were dying from things like that because I tried to deliver as much water to residents from the family water pump as I can, but they didn't need to know that. Make them feel sorry for me.

It was Katniss' turn to speak. "I can't stand President Snow. How anyone can send 24 children into an arena to kill each other is beyond me." She seemed to be warming up to me slightly as the conversation went on, but I knew this wouldn't be enough to stop her killing me in the games. I had to step it up.

"I volunteered to keep the only person that's made my life worth living safe from all this." Katniss' eyes softened. "Why did you volunteer?"

She breathed out, "The same reason." And now I knew i'd done enough to stop myself being killed by district 12.

By the Careers, however? By the way they were looking at me ... Not so much.


End file.
